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Tehran, Iran, Sep. 25 – Iranian authorities have hanged four men in the south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchestan, according to a state-run daily.

The four men, identified as Shah Mohammad, Nader Reigi, Abdol-Ali Baluch, and Mohammad Shakib, were hanged on Saturday in Zahedan Prison, the hard-line daily Khorassan wrote on Sunday.

Iran’s judiciary in Zahedan also sentenced two women and one man to execution.

Zahedan is the provincial capital of Sistan-va-Baluchestan which has been a hotbed of anti-government activities.

In recent months, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks by dissidents on government and security officials.

In the north-eastern city of Mashad, the judiciary sentenced a man, identified only by his first name Hossein, to execution.

Tehran, Iran, Sep. 25 – Iranian authorities have hanged four men in the south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchestan, according to a state-run daily.

The four men, identified as Shah Mohammad, Nader Reigi, Abdol-Ali Baluch, and Mohammad Shakib, were hanged on Saturday in Zahedan Prison, the hard-line daily Khorassan wrote on Sunday.

Iran’s judiciary in Zahedan also sentenced two women and one man to execution.

Zahedan is the provincial capital of Sistan-va-Baluchestan which has been a hotbed of anti-government activities.

In recent months, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks by dissidents on government and security officials.

In the north-eastern city of Mashad, the judiciary sentenced a man, identified only by his first name Hossein, to execution.

I wonder if Nader Rigi is related to Abdolmalek Rigi, the head of the resistance group that is in hiding & fighting the thugs of the raghead government....... very sad....

Amnesty International is greatly concerned by new arrests and detentions in Iran targeting human rights activists, minority community activists and others peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association. Those detained in recent days include Iranian Azerbaijanis advocating a schools boycott and at least 10 people who sought to demonstrate against the imminent execution of four women. Meanwhile, a prominent human rights defender who has been detained without charge or trial for over 100 days has disclosed that he is being subjected to continuous pressure to "repent" by the Iranian authorities.

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities immediately to cease arrests and harassment of those peacefully exercising their rights, including human rights defenders, and to ensure that all persons in detention are protected from torture or other ill-treatment.

Clampdown on Iranian Azerbaijanis

More than 15 members of the Iranian Azerbaijani community are reported to have been detained in recent days in connection with a call for students to boycott schools on the first day of the new academic year - 1 Mehr (which this year fell on 23 September 2006). Similar boycott calls have been made in previous years. Those detained include Esedullah Selimi, 52, who was reportedly arrested on 9 September 2006 while travelling to Tabriz and in possession of leaflets about planned demonstrations in support of a boycott, and then taken to an Intelligence Ministry detention facility in Tabriz. Others, including Iskender Mirza'i and Mehdi Vahidi, both from Naqadeh (Sulduz), reportedly arrested on 14 September, and Eli Sediq Beyreq, reportedly arrested on 15 September in Tabriz, are said to have been detained for distributing leaflets about the planned demonstrations. Other prominent activists who were arrested and released after previous mass demonstrations by the Azerbaijani community in May 2006 also have been detained. They include Chengiz Bekhtaver, Gholamreza Emani and Hassan Ark (also known as Hasan Ali Hajabollu) (see Urgent Action 151/2006, AI Index MDE 13/055/2006 and Public Statement Iran: Authorities should exercise restraint in policing Babek Castle gathering and address human rights violations against Iranian Azeri Turks, AI Index MDE 13/074/2006). Three brothers belonging to the Evezpoor family were reportedly arrested at their home in Tabriz in the early hours of 21 September: Mostafa, 25, Morteza, and Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, aged 14, were all detained previously in April 2006 (see Urgent Action 120/06 MDE 13/047/2006 and follow-up MDE 13/068/2006), when Mohammad Reza Evezpoor was reportedly tortured during his three days in detention. Fereydun Mehdipour and Mohammad Hossein Pourghorban were reportedly arrested on 23 September in Oromieh (Urmu). Their place of detention is unknown. There are also unconfirmed reports that some demonstrators may have been injured by Iranian security forces in Oromieh.

On 21 September, the Iranian authorities permitted prisoner of conscience Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho'ini to attend a memorial gathering for his father forty days after the latter's death. This was the first time that he had been allowed out of Evin Prison, where he is detained in Section 209, since he was arrested on 12 June during a demonstration in Tehran calling for legal reforms to end discrimination against women in Iran (see Urgent Action 181/06, AI Index MDE 13/075/2006). At the memorial ceremony, during which he was heavily guarded, he is reported to have had visible bruising and a wound on his head and to have complained of ill-treatment in detention. He is reported to have said: "Tell everybody that I am under pressure and they interrogate me about five times a day," and to have complained that he was subject to both mental and physical ill-treatment, stating "I sleep with handcuffs and shackles on my feet every night and they have deprived me of every facility". He said that he was under pressure to write a letter of repentance to state officials expressing regret for his past actions. After the memorial he was returned to Evin Prison. He has not been permitted access to his lawyer since his arrest, and has had only limited access to his family.

Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho'ini, a former student leader and former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Majles (Iran's parliament), is also the Head of the Alumni Association of Iran (Sazman-e Danesh Amukhtegan-e Iran-e Eslami [Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat]), which he helped found in 2000. This organization, whose membership is open to graduates of Iranian universities, has been active in promoting democracy and human rights in Iran. During his term in parliament he was an active advocate of human rights, and highlighted the cases of imprisoned students and political prisoners, including by inspecting prisons and illegal detention centres.

Anti-death penalty arrests

On 24 September at least 10 people were detained while demonstrating peacefully outside the United Nations office in Tehran. They were protesting against the expected imminent execution of several women, including Kobra Rahmanpour, Fatemeh Haghighat-pajouh, Nazanin Fathehi and Shahla Jahed. Those arrested are reported to have included Shahin Zaynali and Ali Davoudi, both students at Esfahan University, but as yet this is not confirmed. Those arrested may have been taken to Police Station 128 in Gholhak and may have been released later in the day after signing undertakings about their future actions. Amnesty International has issued Urgent Actions on behalf of all these women currently under sentence of death.

Amnesty International's concerns

Amnesty International is concerned that many, if not all, of those whose cases are reported here appear to have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association, in which case they should be released immediately and unconditionally. Otherwise they should be released unless they are charged with a recognizably criminal offence and brought to trial promptly and fairly. They should be granted immediate and regular access to the outside world, including lawyers and family members. The Iranan authorities should end the practice of harassing those peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and association.

Amnesty International is also concerned that those detained may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment. It is repeating its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho'ini, and for a prompt and impartial investigation into his claims that he is undergoing torture or other ill-treatment in Evin Prison in order to force him to write a letter of repentance.

Background

Iranian Azerbaijanis, who live mainly in the north-west of Iran, and who speak Azerbaijani Turkic, have over the past 15 years or so been demanding that the Iranian authorities respect their right to be educated in the medium of their own language. Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution permits "the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools... in addition to Persian".

Under international law, persons belonging to minorities have the right to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination. States cannot deny the right to use one's own language.

While the state provides education in the state's official language(s) for the majority population, members of minorities have a right to establish and maintain schools where education is provided in their own language, provided that they conform with the minimum educational standards laid down by the state. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. This includes the right to choose for their children institutions other than those established and maintained by the public authorities.

State authorities should take positive measures: (a) so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue; (b) in order to encourage knowledge of the language of the minorities existing within their territory.

Mass demonstrations broke out in towns and cities in north-west Iran following the publication on 12 May 2006 of a cartoon in the state-owned daily newspaper, Iran, which offended many in the Iranian Azerbaijani community. The Iranian authorities reportedly used excessive force to disperse demonstrators, including beatings and lethal gunfire. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators were reportedly detained. Most have since been released, but some are reported to have been tried and sentenced to imprisonment or flogging.

September 29 (Compass Direct News) – Iranian secret police arrested a Christian couple in the northeastern city of Mashhad three days ago, forcing them to leave behind their 6-year-old daughter and holding them incommunicado ever since.

Plainclothes policemen who declined to identify themselves demanded entrance into the apartment home of Reza Montazami, 35, and his wife Fereshteh Dibaj, 28, at 7 a.m. on Tuesday (September 26).

Claiming they had “permission” from the proper authorities, the men conducted a complete search of the family’s home. The couple’s computers and various other personal items were confiscated, along with all the Christian literature in the house.

When it became clear that both he and his wife were going to be physically detained, Montazami managed to telephone his mother, asking her to come quickly to pick up their daughter Christine.

Shortly after the grandmother arrived, Montazami and his wife were taken away in an unmarked car. When the grandmother went into the apartment to get Christine, she found two men still searching the premises.

Asked where Christine’s parents were being taken, the men named a local police station. But when Montazami’s relatives went to the designated place, the police on duty declared they knew nothing about any such detention.

So the family continued to search and inquire, going from one office to another around the city. Finally near the end of the day, authorities at a local intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) admitted that they were holding the couple there for questioning.

But the officials refused to explain why the two were detained or allow anyone to see them. Instead, they suggested that their relatives come back the following morning, when the officer in charge would be present.

Montazami’s family returned Wednesday morning, trying in vain to find out why the couple had been detained. They kept vigil at the IRGC headquarters until officials there sent them home early in the afternoon. “They have given no reason why they have arrested them,” an uncle of the detained husband said. “But please tell people to pray. We believe in the power of prayer.”

Despite repeated inquiries, officials would only say that interrogations were continuing, with documents being prepared on the “exact charges” against them.

Then yesterday, authorities informed Montazami’s elderly parents that their son and his wife were scheduled to appear before a certain Revolutionary Court tribunal at 4 p.m.

The parents arrived at the court by 3:30 p.m. on Thursday to witness the hearing. But after a two-hour wait, the judge told them he did not know why the police had failed to produce the
couple in court for their scheduled hearing. Since Iranian courts are closed on Fridays, the family was told to come back for a “possible” trial on Saturday.

“They are just lying to them,” said one Iranian Christian who himself fled persecution in Iran several years ago for abandoning Islam and becoming a Christian. “It is psychological warfare, to keep their families uncertain and try to make them afraid.”

From a well-known Mashhad family, Montazami converted to Christianity in his 20s. He now goes by the first name Amir among his friends and family.

His wife Fereshteh is the youngest daughter of the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj, an Assemblies of God minister who was martyred for his faith 12 years ago. A Christian for 45 years, Dibaj spent more than nine years in prison, where he was given the death penalty for committing apostasy. A few months after international protests prompted his release, he was abducted and assassinated on the way to his teenage daughter Fereshteh’s birthday party.

Montazami and his wife lead an independent house church in Mashhad, the only known remnant of two active Protestant Christian congregations worshipping in the city before Iran ’s Islamic revolution in 1976.

Both churches were closed by government order in the 1980s. Then in December 1990, the government executed a Mashhad pastor, the Rev. Hussein Soodmand. A former Muslim who had become a Christian 24 years earlier, Soodmand refused to recant his faith after four months under extreme physical and psychological mistreatment in prison.

Since then other converts to Christianity in Mashhad who continued to worship in their homes have been arrested, threatened, booked on apostasy charges and even evicted from their homes by local authorities. Several of these Christian families have fled the country to be granted asylum abroad.

Considered Iran ’s holiest city and a center of Shiite activism, Mashhad is a popular pilgrimage city containing the shrine of the 9th century Imam Ali Reza.

Iranian women who out of poverty and deprivation have become prostitutes are now being rounded up, taken to the Hasht-Gerd section of the Tehran suburb of Karadj and brutally slaughtered. A recently discovered body of a woman in a garden in that area, began unfolding the horrible nature of a series of crimes against women; the women were brutally murdered after being raped. After an investigation, it became clear that the perpetrators of this murder, are a gang that has been involved in various aspects of the crime. Gang members follow prostitutes, make appointments with them, after trapping them, they rape their victims, killing them, they either bury their bodies in random locations or in some cases, they have been known to dump them down water wells in private houses or in rural areas.

Three years agi, a man by the name of Saeed Hanaii was also caught for raping and killing 16 women over a period of several months. Each of the 16 women were poor and forced into prostitution out of social and economic pressures.

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 21 – Girls as young as nine are running away from their homes and living on the streets in Iran, according to a classified report issued by the Ministry of Education.

The report was made public by several Persian-language news websites run by former government officials.

It notes that there is an exceptionally high number of run-away girls near Iran’s holy cities of Qom and Mashad.

Iran has one of the highest record of runaway girls and women in the world.

The state-run news agency ILNA reported in July that there were some 300,000 run-away women and girls in Iran and that 86 percent of girls who ran away from their homes for the first time were raped. The majority of such victims are rejected by their families if they choose to return after having been raped.

instead of helping the over one million homeless children in Iran, this is what the terrorist Mullah$ mafia does with its money:

Iran 'Wrecked Kidnap Deal with Bribe'

November 02, 2006
Telegraph
Tim Butcher in Gaza

Israel has accused Iran of scuppering attempts to win the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli corporal captured by Palestinian militants near Gaza, by paying the militant Palestinian Islamic group Hamas £30 million not to agree to a prisoner exchange.

Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, said Teheran paid Khaled Meshaal, the hard-line Hamas leader who lives as an exile in Damascus, to ruin any chance of a negotiated settlement to this summer's Gaza crisis. "The Iranians paid him £30 million in order to avert and sabotage an imminent release," the ambassador said in New York.

"I informed the Security Council of news that we received, that we have every reason to believe that the Iranian regime has bribed Khaled Meshaal. I believe that the Security Council is worried about this and I hope that these worries will be translated into action very swiftly." Negotiations brokered by Egypt's intelligence chief appeared to be moving towards a deal two months ago that would have seen Cpl Shalit exchanged for around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, only to collapse suddenly.
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The ambassador's remarks appeared to explain the failure of the talks, although Iran denies bribing Mr Meshaal.

Mr Gillerman's comments came as Israeli troops killed eight Palestinians yesterday in one of their largest strikes against militants since re-entering the Gaza Strip four months ago.

An Israeli soldier also was killed in the operation in Beit Hanoun, which the army described as a major staging ground for rocket attacks on Israel. Palestinian hospital officials said at least 40 people were wounded.

Intelligence sources in Jerusalem had no further information about the bribery allegation, but they said it fitted into a pattern of Iranian support for Islamist groups like Hamas within the Palestinian community.

"We have evidence of a pattern of Iranian support not just for Hamas, but for the more extreme elements of Hamas," said Mark Regev, senior spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry. "It is not just in the diplomatic and political support that Iran gives them but in tangible support in terms of tens of millions of dollars each year to run the Hamas offices in Damascus." In April, Iran said it was giving £30 million to help Hamas cope with the financial boycott imposed by Israel and the West after it took control of the Palestinian government.

Israel believes that Iran is providing military support and training to Hamas militants, mirroring its support of Hizbollah in Lebanon.

"The Hamas interior minister, Said Siam, visited Teheran last week and we don't think he was there simply for moral support," Mr Regev said.

Prominent union leader Mansur Osanlu was reportedly arrested in Tehran on November 19 by plainclothes security agents. Osanlu, who is the president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company, had been released on bail in August.

Rights groups and trade unions condemned his arrest and said that he was detained because of his peaceful activities and opinions.

iranpressnews wrote:

Labor leader Mansour Osanlou seized by regime agents

http://www.iranpressnews.com/source/017765.htm
On Sunday morning, November 19th, Mansour Osanlou, director of the greater Tehran bus drivers’ union who was on his way to the labor bureau, was brutally attacked on the street, in front of witnesses. His assailants were plain clothes secret service agents of the Islamic regime, who after beating Osanlou, shoved him in the back of a car and sped away. On Saturday, November 18th Osanlou had received a summons that required him to appear, on Monday morning, November 20th at branch 4 of the interogatory section of the civil servants prosecutor’s office in order to respond to charges that had been been brought against him.
According to Ebrahim Madadi, vice-chairman of the bus drivers union, on Thursday, November 16th, Osanlou had had eye surgery; when he was seized, one of his eyes was bandaged. This method of arrest is reminiscent of the arrest of Iranian opposition leaders, activists, journalists and intellectuals throughout the ‘90’s who were eventually murdered in what came to be known in Iran as the Chain Murders. Osanlou’s life is in danger.

Osanlou had been released on bail in August, after enduring nearly 8 months in prison where his tongue was sliced, by the regime’s torturers during one of the interrogation sessions.

It is said that Osanlou and 16 of his fellow colleagues are being detained in branch 14 of the revolutionary prosecutor’s office, waiting to be prosecuted.

London, Nov. 22 – A United Nations General Assembly committee accused Iran on Tuesday of continuing the practice of torture and punishments such as flogging, stoning and amputation of limbs.

The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee approved the resolution by a vote of 70 in favour to 48 opposed, with 55 abstentions.

The Third Committee expressed “serious concern” at the “continuing harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders, non-governmental organizations, political opponents, religious dissenters, political reformists, journalists, parliamentarians, students, clerics, academics, webloggers, union members and labour organizers, including through undue restrictions on the freedoms of assembly, conscience, opinion and expression, the threat and use of arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention, targeted at both individuals and their family members, the ongoing unjustified closure of newspapers and blocking of Internet sites and restrictions on the activities of unions and other non-governmental organizations, as well as the absence of many conditions necessary for free and fair elections”.

The resolution also denounced the “continuing use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations” in Iran and the “continuing of public executions, including multiple public executions, and, on a large scale, of other executions, in the absence of respect for internationally recognized safeguards, and the issuing of sentences of stoning; and, in particular, deplores the execution of persons who were under the age of 18 at the time their offence was committed”.

It censured the theocratic government for “violence and discrimination against women and girls in law and in practice”, and accused the hard-line Guardians Council of refusing to take steps to address systemic discrimination and arrests of and violent crackdowns on women exercising their right of assembly.

The United States condemns the Iranian Government’s ongoing abuse of the rights of its people. The regime’s decision to send Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, a notorious human rights violator, as its representative to the Tripartite Commission of Iran, Afghanistan, and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva on October 9-10, 2006 underscores the Ahmadi-Nejad Government’s open embrace of repressive policies and those responsible for carrying them out. We call on the Iranian judicial system to hold Pour-Mohammadi to account for his actions.

Since he was appointed Minister of Interior by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in August 2005, Pour-Mohammadi has helped orchestrate a campaign to further restrict the limited rights of the Iranian people. Pour-Mohammadi’s history of human rights abuses in Iran includes his reported leading role in the 1988 mass execution of several thousand political prisoners at Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, and his involvement, as Deputy Intelligence Minister, in the 1998 murders of writers and dissidents throughout Iran.

The U.S. is strongly committed to the protection of refugees globally and commends the UNHCR and others involved in the Tripartite Commission for its humanitarian work on behalf of vulnerable refugees. Choosing Pour-Mohammadi to represent Iran in international deliberations on humanitarian issues demonstrates the regime’s continued disrespect for the international community and for the basic rights of its citizens.

With a smile the young man emerges from a car and swaggers towards the camera, but his balance is off kilter because his hands are tied behind his back and he slips a bit on the grass.

He recovers and bends his gangly body with a laugh, looking for all the world like a teenager making a home video with friends. Another young man follows him, walking stiffly. Someone in a thin grey suit kisses both men on both cheeks and strolls off-camera.

Dozens of people are milling about. A crowd can be seen held back by barriers, but even the guards look relaxed, standing well back from the two with their hands bound. Two rusty cranes on flatbed trucks are parked on the grass, the ropes hanging from each are rough, tangled with knots and the noose at the end looks amateurish - like a random piece of rope washed up on a beach.
Almost casually someone puts the rope round the awkward youth's neck first, then the second, steps back and the cranes pull up the ropes. The second man's body is still, and the camera stays on the taller one until he stops moving, about six minutes.

The film shows the public hanging of Alireza Gorji, 23, and his friend Hossein Makesh, 22, in July in Broudjerd, Iran. According to official versions of the charges, they were put to death because they had behaved 'immorally'. The truth, according to anti-government campaigners, is that the two men were among increasing numbers of political activists being executed by Iran on trumped-up charges.

'Both these men had been involved in anti-government protests in their home town and everyone who watch the hanging knew this,' said a human rights observer in Tehran.

On Tuesday the UN General Assembly condemned Iran for human rights abuses and the video - filmed by a Revolutionary Guard, smuggled out by opposition activists and seen by The Observer - is rare evidence of Iran's efforts to quell dissent. Amnesty International last year documented at least 94 public executions although many more are suspected to take place in secret - in September the authorities told a lawyer for Valliollah Feyz-Mahdavi, 28, that he had died after a suicide attempt in prison. Feyz-Mahdavi had been arrested for membership of Iran's main opposition - the People's Mojahedin Organistation of Iran.

Tehran has now been condemned on more than 50 occasions by the UN for severe human rights violations.

The Broudjerd video has been obtained by an exiled opposition group - the National Council of Resistance of Iran. At the House of Commons on Tuesday, it will be shown to cross-party MPs to encourage the British government to reconsider what the National Council regards as a policy of appeasing the Iranian regime. The group will unveil documents on the execution of more than 20,000 political victims, including evidence for the involvement of President Mohammad Ahmadinejad.

I'd like to plead to you to do your utmost to help free Azita and her husband from Turkish prison. This couple does not deserve to endure any further suffering. Their only crime is that they opposed the Islamic regime of Iran or possibly for converting to Christianity. Like millions of Iranians, I will keep my fingers crossed hoping that you will help to free this young couple. They deserve a normal and happy life.

Free Azita
Help To Free Azita Shafagghat &
Her Husband Ahmad-Reza Shafaggat
from the Turkish prison.
.
Turkish authorities are about to
send them to Iran.
******************************************
Azita and Ahmad-Reza must not be returned to Iran.
======================================================

Azita & Ahmad-Reza Shafaggat were two Iranian student
activists. In 1999, they were arrested for their opposition to
the Mullahs regime and were subjected to all kinds of
physical and psychological torture in RAJAYI-SHAHR
PRISON, west of Tehran. After escaping Mullahs prison,
Azita and her husband spent 4 years in hiding until May,
2006, when they managed to escape from Iran.

After a difficult and arduous journey on foot through Iraq
and Turkey and on their way to be reunited with their
familles in Greece, on June 18th, 2006, the Greek border
police spotted Azita, her husband and 10 other would be
Iranian refugees in woods close to the Turkish border.

Before they were returned to Turkey, Azita, her husband
Ahmad-Reza and other Iranians were beaten up by the
Greek arresting officers in the most appalling way.
While in their custody, (48 hours), the Greek officers
denied food or medical attention. They also refused to
process their application for asylum or investigate their
background as why they had to escape from Iran.

It is understood that the Greek border Guards routinely
hands over the asylum seekers to the Turkish authorities
and the Turkish Government is not only notorious for
their mistreatment of the asylum seekers but they are
known for regularly sending the refugees back to Iran.

Ever since June 18th, 2006, Azita and Ahmad-Reza and
10 other Iranian political activists are imprisoned under
the most applying conditions in turkish prison pending
deportation to Iran.

I have spoken to Azita in prison and according to her
testimonies, The Turkish prison lacks the most basic necessities. There is no hygiene and adequate clothing.
They sleep on floors with no bedding. They are denied
basic food and there is no access to day light and fresh
air and sanitation. The prisoners are subjected to daily
physical punishment and they are beaten up daily which
is routine in that environment.

Azita and her husband are in detention at:
YABANJI YINI EMARAT FACILITY in EDIRNEH which is a
Turkish border town close to Bulgaria.

Both Azita and Ahmad-Reza endured physical as well as psychological torture while in Mullah's prison. Azita who
is 27, is currently suffering from dislocated knees due to
been tortured, kicked and beaten by the Iranian
revolutionary Guards while in RAJAYI-SHAHR PRISON.

Apart from been an active members of the student
movements of 1999, both Azita and Ahmad-Reza were
converted to Christianity which under the current Islamic
law in Iran, is punishable by death.

Azita and her husband and 10 other Iranians are due to
be handed over to the Mullahs regime and we must do
everything in our power to prevent this.

Azita's father who was an officer of the 'Iranian Imperial
Guards' was also imprisoned for several years, tortured
and condemned to death by the Mullahs but managed
to escape Iran recently.

A group of top academics and political leaders is seeking to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for violating United Nations conventions regarding genocide.

The move comes largely in response to this week’s conference in Tehran of people who deny the Holocaust occurred, during which Ahmadinejad vowed that Israel will "soon be wiped out.”

The academics and political leaders will meet Thursday in New York for a symposium, "Bring Ahmadinejad to Justice for Incitement to Genocide,” sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Attendees will include Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School; Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the U.N.; Canada’s former justice minister, Irwin Cotler; and Meir Rosenne, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.

Gold will present a 68-page report, "Referral of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the Charge of Incitement to Commit Genocide,” outlining Ahmadinejad’s crimes, according to The Israel Project, a journalists’ newsletter.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization, said: "Seventy years ago, Hitler repeatedly made his intentions clear but the international community chose to ignore or dismiss his threats.

Avoidance or appeasement only exacerbate the danger posed by tyrants like Ahmadinejad who see such responses as indications of weakness, even capitulation . . .

"Applying the rule of law and international justice to Ahmadinejad will rally the forces of good and hopefully dissuade those who seek to foster death and destructions.”

Dershowitz and Cotler will present a separate set of charges seeking to bring Iran before the International Court of Justice, based on findings that Iranian government officials were responsible for the bombing of the Jewish Cultural Center in Buenos Aires in 1994. The bombing killed 87 people and wounded 200.

Argentinean Special Prosecutors found that the bombing was "conceived, planned and ordered” by high-ranking members of the Iranian government.

During this week’s conference in Tehran, "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision,” Ahmadinejad said: "Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out.”

Among the featured speakers was David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader and Louisiana state representative.

Duke has been teaching at Ukraine’s Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, which in June sponsored an anti-Semitic conference, "Zionism as the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization.”

In Tehran, he applauded "holocaust revisionism.”

The Bush administration has called the conference "an affront to the entire civilized world.”

Contact Person: Dr. Mohammad Parvin (310) 384-8700. He will be present at the trial session as an expert witness.

Background:

In September 2003, after several years of hard work, MEHR Iran announced the filing of a lawsuit against the Islamic Regime of Iran (IRI), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, and Ali Akbar Fallahian Khuzestani. The announcement was made at a conference at the FURAMA Hotel in Los Angeles . This conference was organized by MEHR to commemorate the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran .

The lawsuit filed by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA), charged that agents of the Islamic Regime of Iran tortured the plaintiff, Gholam Nikbin, 59, who served three years in jail for his conversion to the Mormon faith and for permitting dancing at his wedding. Nikbin was whipped with an electric cable on his bare soles and hung upside-down during interrogation and punishment by Iran 's security forces in 1990. The torture damaged his kidneys and made walking difficult. He is still suffering physically and physiologically.

Nikbin told hundreds of Iranian Americans gathered at MEHR conference that he hoped his lawsuit would make his homeland "ashamed, and they will hear my voice”. When asked whether he was not afraid of the terrible consequences of suing the Islamic Regime of Iran, Nikbin said to hundreds of audiences:

"I do not care about my life. I want the whole world to hear my voice and know what they did to me. I am still suffering from what they did to me. I do not want this to happen to another Iranian. I want to free my country from these terrorists."